The Study of Nitrogen Deposition on Wisconsin Fast Plants

2011 Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair

The abstract below was written by the student. The Northern Virginia
Soil and Water Conservation District made no editorial changes.

The Study of Nitrogen Deposition on Wisconsin Fast Plants

by Mahtaab Bagherzadeh, Ann Vo and Nicole Wright, Stuart High School

Abstract

Ongoing research concerning the effect of anthropogenic nitrogen
deposition in varying ecosystems has revealed that an increase or
decrease in plan productivity is dependent on the region, though numerous
studies have neglected the component of soil structure. Thus this
investigation was designed, which examines the effect of nitrogen
deposition in various soils on the growth of Brassica rapa. The plants
were grown with nitrogen levels of 0%, 1%, 2%, and 3% via nitric acid,
with the anticipation that B. rapa cultivars at the 1% level would
flourish, whereas those at the 3% level would be adversely affected. Five
trials were conducted for each level of nitrogen deposition being tested,
with each being given 10 mL of the appropriate nitric acid solution once
a day. B. rapa growth was measured in centimeters on a daily basis; root
and shoot mass measurements were collected following two weeks. Data
analysis determined that the control group's growth increased
continuously over time; the 1% and 2% group increased with some
fluctuation, although the 2% group fluctuated decreasingly towards the
end; and the 3% group initially increased, but regressed notably during
the last week. Root and shoot masses tended to correlate inversely with
acid concentration. The height decreased due to increasingly large
amounts of nitrogen present. This study demonstrated the harms of excess
nitrogen, underlining how crucial it is to retain stable levels of
anthropogenic nitrogen in an environment.